Shining Light
by FeatheryStudio
Summary: Meet Smokekit - a young ThunderClan kit.
1. Chapter 1

"Come on Smokekit!"

Smokekit chased after Pinekit. His sister was born right after him, but she was determined not to let him get ahead. She was faster and acted more like a leader. "You'll never get away!" he roared playfully.

With a single leap, he pinned his sister to the grassy ground. "Hey! That's not fair!" she protested. She wriggled and squirmed and was starting to get free. Smokekit relaxed his muscles, but then his sister sprang free. With a thud, he was on the ground.

"A smart warrior never loses their concentration, even for the slightest moment!" Smokekit wriggled and squirmed, but couldn't get free.

"Fine, you win Pinekit," he admitted. And when Pinekit jumped off, he tackled her. "A smart warrior also never falls for their own trap!" he gloated. Now she was pinned down. "Hi Smokekit!" a voice said. Smokekit jumped off of Pinekit and spun around.

An orange she-cat was standing there. She was four times as big as he, and her warm yellow eyes were on him. "How's your apprentice training?" he asked. "It's fine. Weaselheart is a little tricky at times, but he's a good cat."

Pinekit bounded towards her. "Did you fight any WindClan warriors? Did you tell them that ThunderClan is the best Clan ever?" she asked.

Foxpaw shifted her paws. "Yeah! I showed them who the greatest Clan was!" Smokekit sensed that she was lying, but decided not to spoil it for Pinekit.

A large gray tom walked towards them. His head was towering high with pride, as always. Grayclaw was a direct descendant of Firestar, the greatest leader the Clans had ever seen. The grass was crushed underfoot. He was perturbed by nothing.

"Foxpaw. Weaselheart got a large thorn in his paw, so I'll be your mentor." Grayclaw ran away and Foxpaw chased after him.

Back in the nursery, Smokekit was drinking milk from Featherflame. Featherflame wasn't his real mother. His real mother, Willowheart, died shortly after kitting them. His eyes were still closed so he never knew what she looked like. She was only able to name them before dying.

According to Featherflame, she had white fur like Pinekit, and was the kindest cat any cat could know. _Was I supposed to remember her,_ he often wondered.

He always tried to avoid the subject, but he couldn't help but feel regret. His father, Swiftfoot, was especially close to them, and as nice as Featherflame was, he often wanted to be with Willowheart.

Then there was the Clan issue. Because no other queen had kitted, they had no milk. They were instantly brought to WindClan, where a queen had suckled them until Featherflame had kitted a quarter-moon later.

Despite Swiftfoots encouragement, Smokekit felt strange, considering he was raised in another Clan, even if it was brief. "Rabbit-chaser!" teased Sparrowkit, Featherflame's daughter. "He's a WindClan cat! Rabbit-stinky!"

"Sparrowkit, that's enough! If you tease Smokekit any more, you will have to wait another six moons before you can become an apprentice!" scolded Featherflame.

"Don't worry about her," whispered Larkkit, Sparrowkit's sister.

As night approached, Pinekit asked for a story. A warm greenleaf breeze whistled.

"Well, I'll tell you how I became a warrior," she said.

"Two seasons ago, a badger had come into the forest. It threatened ThunderClan. A patrol of three warriors had gone to confront the badger, but all three of them died.

"I was still Featherpaw at the time. I was a troublesome apprentice. My mentor, Stormclaw, was one of the cats killed by it. I was ready to take it on.

"So when no one was looking, I dashed out of camp. I took the badger head-on. The leaf-bare had brought Foxkit and Dustkit. It would've killed them if it had come to the cat.

"I took the badger head-on. It was extremely fast and strong, but I was smarter. I lured the badger under a loose branch and then cut the branch, killing it."

"Wow! You're awesome!" said Sparrowkit in awe. "Volestar gave me my warrior name, Featherflame," she ended. Smokekits eyes were getting heavy. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Can all cats that are old enough come to the Highledge."

Smokekit peered at the tall ledge, where Froststar stood at the top. He looked at each and every cat with his cold, blue eyes.

He had only been made leader recently, since the previous leader, Volestar, died from wounds. This had only happened a few sunrises after Smokekit and Pinekit opened their eyes for the first time.

It was a terrible death; he was fatally injured by a dog and Smokekit remembered his shrieking as he died, slowly and painfully

The new leader Froststar, was Willowheart's brother. He had the same white pelt, but was named Frostheart because of his heartless attitude towards other cats, even other creatures.

Smokekit was afraid that he would be too rough a leader, but he was quite kind for the most part. Pinekit leaned closer.

"Foxpaw and Dustpaw have been training for two seasons now, and their respective mentors, Weaselheart and Blackbird, have agreed that they should now become warriors. Foxpaw and Dustpaw, come."

The two apprentices came forward.

"I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Dustpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Dustpaw put his head up proudly. "I do.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Dustpaw, from this moment, you will be known as Duststorm. StarClan honors your bravery and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

The white tom rested his muzzle on Dustpaw's head, and Dustpaw, in turn, licked his soldier.

"And now, Foxpaw. I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in his turn. Foxpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Foxpaw shifted her paws nervously, but Smokekit could sense her pride.

"I do," she said strongly.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Foxpaw, from this moment, you will be known as Foxstripe. StarClan honors your kindness and optimism, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

"Duststorm! Foxstripe!" the Clan cheered.

Instantly, Smokekit was immersed with excitement. _When I become a warrior, everyone will be chanting my name,_ he thought. "That is _if_ you become one, rabbit-brain," insulted a voice behind him.

Sparrowkit. "Hey! I'll become an apprentice before you, badger-breath," Smokekit retorted.

"I'm as big as you, rabbit-chaser-brain!"

"In your dreams. The ones that will never come true. That also includes becoming a warrior."

"I'll rip your fur off!"

"Not if I do it first."

Sparrowkit lost it. She charged at Smokekit. The older kit dodged and shot a paw out at her. Sparrowkit was pushed back by the blow. She charged furiously at him. He shot another paw out, but this time she dodged it and lunged her paw at him.

She pounced on him, and Smokekit pushed with all his might, sending her flying upside down. But she also managed to pull him too.

They both fell onto the ground. Smokekit instantly felt pain in his paw. Sparrowkit lunged at him again, and Smokekit copied, with pain. They were about to hit each other's heads when a brown flash came into the middle of them.

Neither Smokekit nor Sparrowkit could move. A dark brown warrior with milky yellow eyes appeared between them. "You two are acting like newborn kits!" scolded Duststorm. "If you do this again, I shall report you both to Featherflame!"

"But he-" started Sparrowkit.

"None of that!"

Sparrowkit stared at Smokekit with indignation. "Great going." Instantly, Duststorm bounded off. Smokekit sprinted after him, but he was far too fast. He decided to give up and tour the camp.

The camp was a stone hollow, surrounded by tall ledges. The ledges protected them from wind. He bounded towards the warriors den. It was a dip in the ground under the branches of a fallen tree.

Around it was Grayclaw, Littlewhisker, a senior warrior with small whiskers, Mallowbreeze, another senior warrior with golden fur and green eyes, and Brackenfoot, the deputy, a brown tabby.

"Are you sure it wasn't them?" he heard Mallowbreeze inquire. "Yes," replied Brackenfoot. "Then what could it be? A Twoleg?" asked Grayclaw sarcastically.

"It is them! Those fish-brains can't tell what their prey is and what's ours any more than they can tell who their Clanmates are!" Littlewhisker raised his voice.

"Let us not forget what happened to Wolffang," reminded Brackenfoot.

"That was back when we were 'paws! Things have changed now that he is gone!"

_He's gone? Who in StarClan was he,_ thought Smokekit.

"Interested, are we?" a voice whispered behind Smokekit.

Smokekit spun around to see Froststar sitting close behind him. Any closer and he would've been right on him.

"Who-who's Wolffang?" stuttered Smokekit.

Froststar blinked and when his eyes opened, Smokekit noticed a ray of sadness in his otherwise cold eyes.

"You don't need to know that."

The leader bounded to the group of warriors. Froststar looked at Smokekit, and the group moved somewhere. Smokekit decided not to follow.

Smokekit returned to the nursery where no other kit was. "Hello dear," greeted Featherflame. "Do you need anything?"

"I just wanted to know who Wolffang was?" he asked.

All the other queens stared at him as if he just announced he was going to join ShadowClan.

Featherflame sighed. Smokekit walked towards her. "It's a long story, back to when I was a kit. He was a deputy of ThunderClan. He was the strongest, fiercest warrior the Clans had ever seen. No cat dared to attack ThunderClan when he was deputy.

"We were hoping that he would become leader so that our Clan would be respected and feared. But then, ShadowClan started stealing prey.

Prey became scarcer and scarcer and elders started to die. So he went to ShadowClan and killed their leader."

"K-killed their leader?" stuttered Smokekit.

"That's right. The greatest warrior the Clans had ever seen had killed Thistlestar, the old leader of ShadowClan in cold blood."

"What happened to him?"

"A war between ShadowClan and ThunderClan had started. It went on for two seasons. And during the war, Wolffang disappeared mysteriously. Just vanished."

"Can you guess where he could be?"

"Froststar was his apprentice. If any cat knew where he would be, he would."

Smokekit blinked and remembered the sadness in Froststars eyes when he mentioned the name.

"We've come to better times. But you want to know something?"

"What is it?"

"I believe he's alive somewhere, and wants to come back to ThunderClan."


	3. Chapter 3

"Featherflame, you really shouldn't be talking about him," muttered Ravenflower, a pregnant queen. Her kits were due soon.

"But why doesn't he come back to the Clan?" asked Smokekit. "I'm sure we would forgive him."

"Oh, you haven't met the other Clans. How would they approve if we allowed him back? What if we also allowed Tigerstar back in the Clan if he were alive?"

Smokekit froze. Tigerstar was the most evil cat the Clans had ever seen. There were countless of stories of him, many of which were obviously false.

_Could Wolffang have been that bad_?

"But don't worry; he's been gone for many moons. Things have changed," concluded Ravenflower.

"Hey Smokekit!" squeaked a voice. A dappled tortoiseshell-and-white she-kit was at the front of the nursery. "Want to play with us?"

"Alright, Larkkit!" squeaked Smokekit. He ran after Larkkit to the elders den.

On the way he bumped into a brown cat. "Mousepaw!" greeted Smokekit. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going the Moonpool today, to become Thrushtail's apprentice," he replied.

"Thrushtail... you're going to become a medicine cat apprentice!"

"That's right. After Volestar died, Froststar decided that I should become a medicine cat apprentice."

"Why after Volestar died?"

"Because he was my mentor.

There was a pause. Volestar had died soon after Smokekit opened his eyes, so he only had vague memories of the leader. He didn't know this.

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah. I realized that I was better at memorizing herbs than clawing cats."

"Mousepaw! Come soon! We haven't got all the time in the world!" called a voice.

"That's Thrushtail. I'd better go. Bye, Smokekit!"

The apprentice ran after the medicine cat and they left the camp.

At the elders den, built under the boughs of a beech tree, Larkkit, Sparrowkit, and Pinekit were being scolded by Snowsong.

"All I know is that one of you did it!" hissed Snowsong. "And I want to know which one is guilty!"

"Smokekit!" blamed Sparrowkit. "Smokekit did it!"

"Don't be ridiculous now. Smokekit wasn't even here."

"What happened?" asked Smokekit.

"Someone put a bramble in my nest and then I sat on it!" explained Snowsong impatiently.

"May I see it?" asked Smokekit.

"Sure, dear."

Snowsong put a bramble in front of him.

"Now, now, Snowsong, it's possible you put it there," suggested Flatclaw, a tom with flat claws.

"Don't be soft, Flatclaw. Why, back in our day, we would've gotten punished much harder if we did such a fox-hearted thing," retorted Snowsong.

Smokekit inspected the bramble. There were claw marks. But these claw marks were rounded and flat, unlike the ones he had seen on fresh-kill.

There was only one cat who could've done this.

"Flatclaw. You put the brambles there," he concluded.

Flatclaw shifted his paws. "This has to be some mistake, there's no way I could have done it."

"Then why are the claw marks here flat, like your claws?"

He passed the bramble to Snowsong who looked at it and gasped. "And if you look at any other cats' claws in the den, you'll notice that they have no trace of carrying bramble. Your paws a bleeding a little."

He moved his muzzle in the direction of Flatclaws paws, which had a little blood.

"Flatclaw! How dare you?" hissed Snowsong. "It-it was a joke," muttered Flatclaw nervously. "But you should apologize to the kits.

Snowsong turned around and gave each kit a big, wet lick. Smokekit purred while the other kits mewed with annoyance.

"And give Smokekit the biggest." Smokekit thought the tom was angry with him, but he noticed amusement in the old cat's eyes. Snowsong licked Smokekit. It was a big slobbery lick. Smokekit wiped his cheek afterwards.

"You still haven't learned a thing after that affair, did you?" scolded Snowsong further.

_Affair?_

Sparrowkit ran out of the nursery. "Last one to the Highledge is crowfood!" she squeaked.

Smokekit bounded after her, followed by his denmates, determined not to be last.


	4. Chapter 4

A bundle of fur knocked into Smokekit. Smokekit was sent sliding sideways into the snow.

"Sorry Smokekit!" apologized Burrkit.

He and his brother, Sunkit, had been born two moons ago when leaf-bare had begun, and now it was colder than ever before.

Smokekit was going to tell Sunkit to watch where he pushes Burrkit, but he decided not to, as they didn't mean to. "Burrkit, you stinky-badger, watch where you fall! You almost killed Smokekit!" squeaked Sunkit.

"Did not! You're a stinky badger!" retorted Burrkit. The two kits began wrestling with each other. "Kits! Stop hurting each other like that!" yelled Ravenflower, their mother.

Smokekit was looking for Pinekit, whose white pelt made it easy for her to hide in the snow.

"Pinekit! I'll find you!" Smokekit sniffed the air. He could smell Pinekit towards the Highledge. Smokekit bounded towards when he noticed a large amount of warriors heading towards the Highledge. He ran to Grayclaw.

"Hi Grayclaw! Did you see Pinekit?" he asked. Grayclaw blinked. "No, I didn't. But I can get her scent by the Highledge. Maybe you ought to go check there," he suggested. Smokekit followed when he saw Pinekit staring up at the Highledge. On the top was Froststar. Swiftfoot had pride in his eyes. Every single warrior was around the Highledge.

"Pinekit, you have reached the age of six moons," began Froststar. _I'm becoming an apprentice,_ Smokekit thought in glee. "It is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Pinepaw.

"I will be your mentor. I hope I can get you to your fullest potential, and beyond." Froststar leaped forward and touched noses with her. He turned around and crawled up the Highledge.

"And Smokekit. It is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive you warrior name, you will be known as Smokepaw." He turned his heads and looked at each and every cat before narrowing his eyes, as if confirming a decision.

"Your mentor will be Foxstripe." He turned to Foxstripe. "Foxstripe, you are young, but you have shown yourself to be patient and responsible. Weaselheart was your mentor, and I expect you to pass on all the skills you were taught by him."

Foxstripe walked slowly and gently touched noses with Smokepaw.

"Pinepaw! Smokepaw! Pinepaw! Smokepaw!" the Clan cheered. Despite the Clan cheering for him, Smokepaw couldn't help but feel jealousy that Pinepaw got the Clan leader as her mentor.

Pinepaw went to talk to Swiftfoot, so Smokepaw decided to talk to Foxstripe.

"So... what are we going to do?" he asked nervously.

"Well, we can tour the territory," she suggested.

"Okay."

Foxstripe dashed away and Smokepaw followed her. There were more thick trees than he could ever imagine, covered with snow. He left little footprints as he pursued his mentor. She was too fast for him to keep up, but he loved running through the snow and his sleek pelt helped him run quickly.

"C'mon, you slow turtle!" teased Foxstripe. Smokepaw kept on running, his chest heaving. He had never felt this tired before. Eventually, he stopped running. "Here we are!" announced Foxstripe. "This is the Sky Oak. Prey loves to live here during leaf-fall, so 'till then, why don't we practice climbing trees?" she suggested.

"How do we do that?" asked Smokepaw. "I was going to get to that," said Foxstripe, slightly annoyed, but more amused.

She jumped on the tree and climbed up, almost as if she was running up. The first rule is to find breaks in the tree so that you can grip onto it. Try it!"

Smokepaw followed. _Find breaks... find breaks... here!_ He had found a break. He gripped onto it with both of his paws and pulled himself up. He used his claws on his back feet to give extra grip.

"Good! Now find your next breaks in the tree, and then prepare to jump. You only have a little time to do it, or you'll get tired and fall."

Smokepaw looked. He couldn't find any breaks. "If there are no breaks, push your claws deeper into the bark to secure yourself," helped Foxstripe. Smokepaw jumped and caught the tree... and he began falling. _Help! I'm falling, _he yelled in his mind. He was about to hit the snowy ground when something caught him.

Foxstripe put him on the ground. "Sorry, I forgot that your claws aren't big enough, plus there's snow on the tree," she apologized. "Let's try it again later."

"Where are we going now?"

"To see the lake."


	5. Chapter 5

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. SCHOOL STARTED. I WON'T BE ABLE TO WRITE EVERY WEEK BUT THE STORY MUST GO ON!

"The lake?" asked Smokepaw. He'd heard stories of the lake by the queens when he was a kit, and was excited at the prospect of seeing it.

"That's right. Come on!" Foxstripe ran away yet again, and Smokepaw had to follow her. Smokepaw ran through the snow, now relying on her footprints to track her, when snow started coming down.

His black pelt stood out to the snow, but it was making his white chest and feet even more white.

"How much farther do we have to go?" asked Smokepaw. His legs were getting tired and he didn't want to run any more.

"Not too much!" replied Foxstipe. "The lake is frozen now, but in newleaf the ice will melt!"

_Frozen?_ Smokepaw felt slight disappointment. He wanted to watch the waves as the queens had described it. "I wish I was born in leafbare!" he said aloud, accidentally.

"You're like Duststorm! You both complain about things you can't control!" complained his mentor.

Smokepaw kept on running, even with his heart beating quickly. He was about to faint when he noticed a huge ice patch ahead. _The lake!_

He dashed for the last time before stopping; heaving his chest, breath after breath.

"You're tired already?" asked Foxstripe with sarcasm. "We haven't even covered _half_ of the ThunderClan territory!"

_Not even half our territory?_

Smokepaw shifted his paws uncomfortably. For moons he was so excited to become an apprentice, but now he wished he was still a kit.

He looked at the ice patch up ahead. It was wide and white. "Over on the other side, you might be able to see RiverClan over there," explained Foxstripe.

She pointed her nose southwards and when he looked, he could barely see a creature with the shape of a cat. _RiverClan!_

"How does RiverClan survive when the lake is frozen?" asked Smokepaw. He didn't understand how they could survive without eating fish.

"They eat and eat and eat until they become fatter than a kittypet so they don't have to eat for a season," she replied.

_Fatter than a kittypet! Is that possible?_

Smokepaw walked forwards. "Be careful," warned Foxstripe. "The ice can get thin and break. A cat died from it once."

Smokepaw walked further when he heard a noise. Crack!

The ice was cracking and Smokepaw could feel the ice moving around as if in water.

"See, I told you," snorted Foxstripe. "I'll come take you so that you don't crack the ice."

She started walking towards him. _Crack!_ Smokepaw heard the ice crack. It was nowhere near him. _Where did it come from?_

Foxstripe took another step, seemingly unperturbed. As she took another step on the snow, there was another crack. "Foxstripe," he whispered. "Don't take another step."

"What do you mean another step?" she asked. She took another step on the snow. No crack. "It's perfectly-"

She never got to finish her sentence.

The snow somehow fell apart under her and she plunged into the cold water.

"Foxstripe!"


	6. Chapter 6

_What in StarClan happened?_

The snow suddenly cracked underneath Smokepaw's mentor and she fell in the water.

_The snow covered the ice!_

He wanted to move but he couldn't. The ice would break under him. Then another splash came and his mentors head came above water temporarily before sinking back in.

Without thinking, Smokepaw ran to the hole and dunked his head into the water. It was cold, and Smokepaw couldn't move his head for a moment. He forced himself to bite his mentors scruff.

He tried to pull, but she was too heavy. He was sinking.

_Crickety-crack, cricket-crack._

The ice was breaking and soon he'd fall in. He could feel the icy water lapping at his feet with cruelty. His heart started pounding faster, as he couldn't lift his head.

He didn't have much time to think.

_The water's icy cold, so she can't swim... She's sinking... her fur? No, RiverClan would sink then... _

And then he got it.

_Her position!_

He had to find a way to turn her on her back so she could float up.

He bit her scruff with all his strength. It worked. She began squirming and slowly turning to her back. He started biting harder, and she turned to her back.

_Now pull!_

With all his might, he yanked her up and he fell into the water.

_StarClan, help me!_

His strength was being drained away from him. This was what Foxstripe was feeling. He could see Foxstripe above him. He couldn't breathe.

This was it. On his first day of being an apprentice, he was going to die.

The pain in his chest was like a fire spreading until the world was become white. The pain in his chest was lessening, and lessening.

He really was dying.

He felt as if he were truly in peace.

The last thing he could do was hear.

Then the light completely took over.


End file.
